Coffee Tasting: A Guide

What is the ideal coffee?

The answer to that, as with almost every other answer in the world, is that it really depends!

In this case, on the person drinking the coffee!

Our individual tastes and preferences often lead us to different conclusions as to what the ideal cup of coffee might taste like. Some people prefer darker roasted coffees with smooth bodies and earthy flavor, and others may instead find that delicate fruity and floral notes best agree with them.

Well, to each his own - what's really important is trying the beans for yourself, and finding what you'd prefer the most.

That being said, before we get to drinking that cup of coffee, and contemplating if it is a 'good' coffee or not, there are many variables that we should acknowledge that eventually all contribute towards the final conclusion that we make:

1. The quality of the beans (as determined by variables in the cultivation of coffee)

2. The impact of the processing method in altering chemical composition of beans

3. The impact of roasting in developing aroma and flavor of coffee

4. The brew method and other key factors that affect taste (e.g. grind size, water temperature, brewing apparatus and method, water composition, etc.)

Hence, when one sets off on a mission to try to develop one's taste buds and journey down the path of reviewing/grading coffee, it can be very easy to fall down the slippery slope of assuming that the final evaluative grade is the ultimate indication of the coffee itself.

It is not.

Many biased inputs are taken, in order for us to evaluate the coffee. For example, the freshness of the beans, the skills in preparing the pour over, and even one's mental state when tasting the coffee - these are things that cannot be corrected for impartiality, and hence will be ever present in coffee journals here.

How to best taste coffee?

With the above disclaimer now made fully clear, it would be beneficial to share the framework used to guide our coffee tasting, and which helps to act as a guidance to the mental approach of tasting coffee, and sorting our experience into clear divisions, easily understandable by the next person.

James Hoffman creates one of the best and most informative coffee channels you can find on Youtube, and this particular video of his is extremely helpful in defining the methodology and approach taken to journal the coffee we taste. In the video, mention is also made to the Prufrock Coffee Tasting Guide, which is the inspiration from which we guide our journalling of coffee experiences.

Just like in Minimalism, these tasting guides are a personal journey, and they represent my conscious effort to practice identifying flavors and notes in the coffee that I brew through my own means. It is by no means the perfect or most accurate representation of the coffee beans. In the hands of a skilled barista, coffee can take on a whole new level of flavor and complexity missing in from the same beans that one may brew at home.

Overall Rating Guide

Given that the process to get to the final cup of coffee is so fraught with uncontrollable variables and potential biases, does it make any sense to put an overall grade on this coffee?

The assignment of an overall number for the experiences with a particular bag of coffee is closely tied to the amount of enjoyment derived from the coffee that has been brewed. However, this is often subject to biases, and to best mitigate this bias, we assign a grade based on an overall scale of 6 (mitigating the error of central tendency from Likert scale arrangements). Instead of assigning an arbitrary number based on feeling, each number represents a certain extent of opinion, annotated in the following:

⚅

Reserved for the best tasting coffees. Silky smooth body, and balanced in all aspects with pretty much no room to fault.

⚄

Coffees which are distinguishably enjoyable, for which the experience of drinking it brought a smile to my face. However, probably slightly less than perfect in one or two minor aspects.

⚃

The tasting notes in this coffee are identifiable and nice, but at the same time, this cup of coffee did not particular stand out as extraordinary or unique.

Should I have to select beans to drink, this would be one that I prefer.

⚂

Aroma and flavors are distinct and identifiable, but at the same time, this cup of coffee feels wholly ordinary.

Compared against coffee beans of similar profiles, I would be more inclined to choose other coffee beans. I could drink this coffee regularly.

⚁

The cup of coffee tasted fairly simple, with little noteworthy tasting profile. Nature of aroma is redolent of an average second-wave coffee.

I would not elect to drink this on a recurring basis.

⚀

These coffee beans have idiosyncrasies, either in processing or roasting, that translate into affected taste in the coffee brewed.

I did not enjoy drinking this coffee.

Happy Tasting!

Thats the last of it - this article is, hopefully, sufficiently informative as to how you can to utilize the journals presented to guide or categorize your own experiences with the same beans, and happy tasting!